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Christmas 2015

Christmas was a dream this year! I’m not quite ready to jump
back into the swing of things, how about you?

Patrick had to work Christmas Eve, and since we went home
for Thanksgiving, we decided to stay in UT for Christmas. We were a
little nervous, we’ve always split Christmas up between three sets of parents,
and been incredibly busy, but it turned out our decision to stay was amazing! It
was one of our most special Christmases.

Christmas Eve: Poor
Ledger thought when he heard, “Tomorrow is Christmas Eve!” that it was
actually Christmas. (We had to have a talk about what Eve meant). He was up at
5:30 bouncing off the walls begging to go downstairs. Pat had to be to work by
7:00 AM so we were all up pretty early. The boys ate Christmas Captain Crunch
from our Christmas Elf for breakfast. (Our neighbors did the 12 days of
Christmas to us, and signed each letter from the Christmas Elf. It made December
so much fun) And because it was from the Christmas Elf, I heard excited squeals
through all of breakfast. This age couldn’t be anymore fun!One thing I did want to do was big Christmas Eve dinner. It
helped with homesickness and was worth all the effort. I cooked most of the
afternoon, letting the boys help when they could. I set up a Christmas craft for
the boys and let them watch a Christmas movie. By the time Pat came home, I was
just finishing up dinner. We had a “fancy” Christmas Eve dinner as Ledger called
it and it was absolutely perfect.

We ate Ham, rolls, twice baked potatoes, green bean
casserole (made from scratch). And I made sure to continue my favorite tradition
from my childhood, my Grandma always made red punch. It was a huge hit with
everyone other than Ledger who hates most red food… but our night was filled
with everyone saying, “Cheers!”

After dinner Patrick read the scriptures telling the story
of Christ’s birth and I let the boys use these little cute cutouts to tell the
story (I found on Pinterest). The sweetest spirit filled our home, and I know
without a doubt Preslee was close by, which made for the greatest Christmas gift
I could ever be given.

We let the boys open one present that evening, (Christmas
PJ’s) and by 7:00 PM Ledger was begging and pleading to go to bed so Santa would
come. His brothers followed him up the stairs, so we went with it. They all
slept in one room, and for the next half hour all we could hear was Ledger
yelling and begging his brothers, “Go to bed or Santa won’t come!” It kept us
laughing, and I had to go up and calm everyone down a couple of times.
:)

Pat and I finished getting presents put together quite
quickly and were in bed by 10:30 PM. Score!Christmas Day: I woke up to Patrick saying, “It’s 6:00 A.M. and nobody is awake!” I
mumbled go back to bed and rolled over and was out. By 7:00 A.M. Patrick had us
all up. He might have been the most excited :)

We lined the boys up on the stairs from youngest to oldest
and told Cruiz to go first. Ledger nearly burst into tears misunderstanding what
was happening, and Cruiz ran away screaming into his room. Haha it was the
strangest thing and we could not get him out of there. So we took Cannon down
and let Ledger follow. Pat had to eventually go upstairs and pull Cruiz out of
his room. But their excitement was magical.

Ledger immediately grabbed his shellraiser.Cruiz kept
screaming, “Blaze!” And all Cannon cared about was his socks and his
chocolate orange. He repeatedly kept yelling, “Candy! Candy!”

At this point I turned off the camera and tried to soak up
every minute of their excitement. I hope to never forget their squealing, their
hugs, and the happy spirit that filled our home. We stayed in our pj’s and
watched the snow fall the entire day. That night Pat went out and shoveled the
driveway, and the boys bundled up and rode their scooters and bike around and
around in the garage. Highlights:

Pat bought me a kitchen table that fits our entire family!
We’ve been using a tiny little table for our entire marriage. It was soo fun to
have a nice Christmas Eve dinner on it, I still am giddy every time we use
it.

It was the first Christmas I didn’t
cry looking at Preslee’s stocking hung up by itself after the rest were taken
down and filled.

My ham was the bomb!

We received about a foot of snow.

We’ve been truly blessed beyond measure this
year and can’t wait to see what 2016 has in store!

Big congrats on finishing everything up by 10:30! Wanted to tell you what Santa does at our house. He wraps the gifts (each kid only gets 3) its always in the same special Santa paper and has a big white tag that says To: From. This lets things last a little longer with more unwrapping. As the kids have gotten older Santa has even started numbering the tags so they open the xbox before the present with the video game. We're always away from family each year and the little traditions do add up and start to become special in their own way and minimize the loneliness.

I loved reading this! It sounded absolutely perfect in every way! Being on your own for holidays is hard. Kevin and I did it for 2 Christmases when we lived in Oregon and New Mexico....but I also secretly liked it :) haha. AND I liked proving to myself that I could cook up a mean meal just like his mom makes at home! So boom. I bet your ham was bomb!

Hi, we're the Sullengers! Life turned upside down for us in 2010 when we lost our daughter in an accidental drowning. Since then, we've documented our highs (life with all five of our kids) and our lows (struggles with grief) but amongst everthing we've experienced, we know as long as we hold on to one another we can get through anything that comes our way. Read More. . .